DC Earth 46 Story-Black Sheep Together
by AzureSpider
Summary: Sequel/finish to my earlier, discontinued fan-fiction "Black Sheep of the Family". This is essentially a follow-up that ends the story I started four years ago with the black sheep of the Batman family Huntress and Red Hood. Consider reading "Black Sheep of the Family" first to get the full context behind this one. Enjoy!


**Author's Notes: So, a while ago I wrote a Red Hood/Huntress story that was in fact a re-write of an earlier story that I decided was not up to my then-present standards and so deleted it. Unfortunately I never got around to finishing the story and have since discontinued it. But, I figured I could do this little one-off sequel to it that more or less ends my original story. Don't know if the original story's audience will ever see this one, but I figured "what the hell?" and decided to do it anyway.**

 **Please note that, if you haven't read "Black Sheep of the Family", then some of the references and events in this story won't make any sense to you. In fact odds are you may have some difficulty following or understanding everything that happens here.**

 **Just a forewarning.**

 _Black Sheep Together_

The silence between them coupled with the energy each was giving off ensured that the home of one Helena Bertinelli couldn't have felt any less pleasant or welcome if there had been a dead person in it.

They just sat in silence for a long, long time. Each was thinking back to the fateful moment; the moment where he had killed again, this time a supervillain who had nearly gotten him before. He thought he'd killed him in that fight too, but he hadn't. Mistake corrected.

She felt differently about it though, of course. Or at least, he figured she did. She hadn't actually come out and said so, just told him to come back to her apartment with her before anyone showed up to investigate. For reasons he couldn't entirely explain himself, he had decided to listen to her and followed. And so now here they were. He had assumed she'd wanted to talk about it, but thus far she hadn't uttered a word.

She _had_ done a lot of glaring and frowning though. A lot. So much so that it was beginning to unnerve even him.

Finally though, at long last, the unofficial contest of who could out-silence the other for the longest period of time was broken when Jason folded first and said: "You gonna yell at me eventually or not? Expect me to say 'I'm sorry'? Come on, give me something here, anything-"

"I'm not mad."

Jason blinked. "What did you just say?"

"I'm not mad." Helena repeated at him, before clarifying: "Well, actually, I _am_ mad. But at how things went tonight. Not so much at you specifically, just...the whole thing. All of it."

Jason raised an eyebrow at that. "Really?"

"I get why you killed Croc." Huntress clarified. "Hell, I've wanted to kill him myself a few times over the years. And I'm _not_ Bruce. Whatever you may think about me, Jason, I am not Bruce and never will be. I can't have that kind of rigidness, that insistence on absolute moral high ground at all times. Even if I wanted to, I could never do it. It's just not who I am." She looked right into his own eyes, and the look in her's softened. "But I also want to be better than I was before, and I want you to be too. That's why I fought so hard to help you." She shook her head. "And I see now that I was wasting my time all along. I don't blame you, before you say anything. I blame myself. I blame myself for trying to make you something other than what you are." She shook her head. "I was acting just like him, trying to get someone to change when we can't change who other people are."

Jason considered all of that for a long time. Then, he put a hand on her shoulder. "Helena...that's not true."

Helena looked up at him. "What?"

"Well, it's a little true, and a little not...look; Bruce changed me a little; he opened my eyes to how there were things more important than just myself. And I still believe that, even now. It's why I do what I do. Do you know what I was before Bruce found me? A punk kid stealing tires off cars. Never cared about anyone but myself before he taught me right from wrong. I've...'outgrown' his ideas, but I didn't go backwards; I went forwards. I took his outdated morals and improved them. And then the League brought me back and under them I changed again."

Helena scoffed with clear skepticism. "Really? How?"

"They made me better. Stronger, faster, and _smarter._ I was stupid and reckless when I was wearing the Robin costume. Now I know how to do things _right._ Not just not holding back, but in not rushing in without a plan. I'm better now than I was." He paused, then added: "And...I guess you made me better too."

"How? You're still..."

"Still killing, yes, but..." He sighed. "Look, I had fun working with you, OK? I always have. Sure, I may complain a lot, but...I've always enjoyed spending time with you, Helena. I like having someone to fight alongside again. Someone who understands me in a way that Bruce never could. I...I _care_ about you, Helena. And when I first came back, I didn't care about anyone. At least...not the way I do about you."

There was a long pause after Jason said this. Both could feel the discomfort that had replaced the previous icy coldness, and they didn't like it much better. Jason was the furthest thing from a romantic that he could think of, and Helena couldn't exactly count herself much better all things considered. And no one had ever really opened up to her the way Jason had now.

At first, she felt the rising urge to get defensive. To push back, either verbally, physically or both. To tell him that he shouldn't feel that way about her, that it couldn't work, that they both had too much baggage...

...but instead, Helena wrapped her arms around Jason's neck and kissed him.

"Jason..." She breathed after her lips left his. "Do...do you really mean what you said?"

He nodded. "And one other thing..." He lifted her chin and forced her to look right at him. "...I know how much you want me to change. I do. And I know I've resisted every step of the way so far. That I've been difficult the whole time."

"You sure have." Helena said with a lopsided grin.

"Yeah, well...I promise, that from now on, I'll try. I'll try to be better, like you want me to. I can't promise that I'll succeed, but I _can_ promise that I'll try. You have my word."

Helena considered this. Then, she said: "Do you mean that too?"

Jason nodded. "I do. Just so long as..." He trailed off. He paused. She frowned. "So long as what?"

"So long as you stay with me." He said softly.

The shock and surprise Helena felt at hearing this was quickly smothered by the kisses and physical pleasures that followed. Jason was rapidly pulling down her pants, but just as he'd succeeded in his task, she had put her hands around his wrists. "Don't."

"Don't?" He repeated, confused and frowning.

"Not tonight." She said. "Tonight's...tonight's not the night for it. Not...not after everything."

"Don't you...?"

"I do." She said firmly, cutting him off. "And I will, I promise. Just...just not tonight, OK?"

Jason frowned, but nevertheless nodded his consent. "Not tonight." He repeated, and helped her put her pants back on. He kissed her lingerlingly on the lips, and she kissed him back. And they just stood there, each swaying back and forth in the other's arms.

"You know I'm probably not any good for you, right?" Jason asked.

"You're plenty good enough for me." Helena said, looking at him with a harsh expression that melted into a self-deprecating smile. "I'm no saint myself. Never was."

Jason smiled back. "Then I guess I'm yours, 'Mafia Princess'."

-X-

"You were a little hard on Huntress…" Black Canary said off-handedly as she continued to pummel her opponent with strikes from her escrima sticks.

"Was I?" Batman asked as he ducked under the next attack from his opponent before uppercuting him straight into unconsciousness.

"She's really been trying to help. And you keep shutting her out."

"She's killed people. She's lucky I'm not trying to take her down right now."

Black Canary sighed as she twisted one man's arm and hurled him into two of his fellows. "I don't like that she's killed people either, but she's a different person now. All she wants now is a second chance. To show that she's really a hero. And besides..." Black Canary paused as she kicked one man hard enough to knock half the teeth out of his math, wrist-lock and pummel a second, and dislocate the arm of a third. "...you've given Catwoman a second chance."

"That's different." Batman countered, slamming his hands into the sides of a man's head before kicking him backwards over three feet. "Catwoman doesn't kill."

"Okay, fair enough but still. How can she expect to better herself and become like us if you don't forgive her and let her in?" Black Canary cart-wheeled out of the way of another man's desperate lunge, twirling about as her cart-wheel concluded just in time to parry another man's blows before replying in kind with attacks powerful enough to knock the wind right out of him.

By this point, all of Black Mask's men were out cold, though the crime boss himself remained ever-elusive. As Batman and Black Canary stood triumphant over the throng of defeated goons, Black Canary turned to Batman: "...and I've already spoken with Barbara, Nightwing, and Robin, and they all agree with me: she deserves a second chance."

In the face of his colleague's continued pressuring, Batman at last sighed deeply and said: "I'll think about it."

Black Canary shook her head. "That's all I'm gonna get isn't it? Figures. Well, just keep everything I said in mind. You can be pretty stubborn sometimes."

"That's not a bad thing."

Black Canary sighed. "...and there he goes again."

-X-

The first time they'd made love was after Jason had come back bruised and bloodied all over from a fight with Black Mask's people, Venom-enhanced mooks included and rogue League of Assassins ninjas among them. Helena had completely lost it and was yelling at him for a good several minutes before she actually got around to patching him up. And then while she was doing that he surprised her by smashing his lips into hers. She returned his kiss after a few moments of shock before Jason decided that wasn't enough. He wanted her utterly and completely and became more passionate and aggressive, holding back only so much as to give Helena time to decide if she wanted to indulge him or not. She was reluctant, noting how injured Jason still was. But he insisted that he could take it, and that she shouldn't worry for him.

By this point he no longer denied his attraction to her. No longer denied that he thought she was incredibly beautiful, and that he looked at her the same way Bruce had always looked at Selina. That same overpowering desire to have someone be yours and only yours. Jason now had that desire. He wanted her and he loved her. He hadn't felt love for anyone since coming back, his heart had frozen over more than Bruce's ever had. But now Helena had managed to melt it with her own inner fire and her refusal to give up on him even when everyone else had, and even when he'd hurt her, which was now his greatest shame.

So it was that Helena gave herself to Jason in full, the two removing each-other's clothes and holding their passion in just long enough to make it to the nearby bed before again making love intensely with one another, Helena urging Jason to keep going as he in turn took to nibbling at her ears and neck. Helena moaned loudly and then overturned Jason, now being on top of him. This in turn began a back-and-forth between them as they each tried to dominate the other, Helena winning more often than not on the account of Jason still being injured.

 _Finally beat him in a fight._ Helena joked as she placed Jason's torso in-between her legs.

Jason for one had a happiness in this moment that he had never felt before in his life, before or after his death. In fact happiness of any sort had been a rarity in his life, with pain and anger being the only things he'd ever known for as long as he could remember. But this one shining moment was an exception. Here in this bed with Helena he felt content and felt like he could smile, a real true smile of happiness rather than a false, empty smile of mockery or swagger. She was the angel who had tried to save his soul, and given him something more to care for in life than revenge.

After their love making concluded Jason and Helena just lay there, wrapped in each-other's arms and clutching one another tightly. Each of them wanted to protect the other from the rest of the world, a world that had already brought them each so much pain. To say nothing for the pain they'd brought to each other.

"I'm sorry I hurt you so many times" Jason whispered to Helena. "I was angry. Vengeful. And when I first met you I saw you as just another person in my way…"

Helena put one of her hands to Jason's lips. "I know. I understand" She smiled. "I'm still pissed but I've been through worse from worse people. I forgive you." She pressed her lips against his again before adding: "And besides, as I keep telling you I'm not exactly innocent myself."

"Those people you killed got what was coming to them" Jason snarled. "They killed your family and probably others too. They didn't deserve to live."

"I used to think that too." Helena admitted. "But like I said, when I killed them it didn't bring me any happiness. Any comfort. Instead I still felt hurt and lost. And after I killed them I felt guilt to go along with it. It wasn't worth it."

"Does that mean you'd take it back if you could do it over?" Jason asked.

Helena thought about it for a moment before shaking her head. "Probably not, no. I know now revenge wouldn't get me anything, but if I faced those men again the anger would return, the hatred would return...and after that I don't know what I'd do. Probably nothing good."

"So the angel still has a dark side does she?" Jason smirked as he kissed Helena's neck again.

"I was never an angel, Jason. And I never will be."

"All evidence to the contrary."

"Not wanting you to turn into a monster doesn't equate to me being an angel. Even now I still don't pull many punches out there on the streets. I just don't kill like I used to. But I _was_ a killer once, Jason. Same as you."

"No. You're better than I've ever been, Helena. You overcame it on your own. I had to be dragged kicking and screaming to change."

"That's not true. I had a lot of help too. Dinah, Vic, Richard Dragon...they all helped me come to terms with myself, make me better than who I'd been. It helped that some of it was just straight up knocking some sense into me. The hard way."

"You really love getting beaten up don't you? I mean between me, Bruce, Black Canary, Lady Shiva...you've been around the block as far as getting your ass kicked is concerned."

"And you?" Helena said with a smile. "As I recall Bruce and Shiva both knocked your lights out too. And I'm pretty sure Dinah could also."

"Yeah, she could. But I bet I'd do better against her than _you_ did."

"Is that a challenge?" Helena asked in a sultry tone, also motioning towards Jason in such a way as to suggest a second round between them of a decidedly different nature than hand to hand fighting.

"If you're up for it." Jason replied, his own mouth forming into a lopsided grin.

"Looks like I've still got a ways to go." Helena joked. "Because you are still a **_very_** bad boy."

Jason smiled and said before kissing Helena again: " _You're_ the one who made the first move."

 _Epilogue_

"You idiot, the bomb's about to go off. If we don't get clear we _both_ die!"

"Yes I know, that's the **_point!_** " The Joker screamed with manic glee as he swung out with his crowbar and slammed it into Red Hood's now unprotected head. "We both go out together! But if that's not what you want, lambchop, I'll be sure to help you on your way!" As Joker said this he began to savagely bring the crowbar down on Jason again and again, all the while the images of present and past merging and becoming impossible to separate from one another in Jason's own mind. All he felt was the pain, the same pain he had felt all those years ago…

But then, as the Joker raised his crowbar once more, a crossbow bolt whizzed through the air and collided right with it, knocking the weapon clean out of the Joker's purple-gloved hand. Whipping about, the Joker turned just in time to see Huntress run up to him and drive her fist into his stomach with all of the strength and fury she could muster behind it. Joker doubled over in an instant, saliva flying out of his mouth. Huntress followed this up with a punch across the side of the face, striking so hard she managed to knock one of the Joker's teeth loose and draw blood. Joker tried to bring himself back up but a sweeping kick to the face from a high-heeled boot managed to bring him down.

"Take a seat, 'puddin'." Huntress snarled before turning to Jason, who was staggering to his feet. Bruises and blood covered his face, itself now somewhat swollen from the beating, and his body armor, while still intact, had taken it's share of hits as well, with a few small dents throughout, including part of the red skull logo that was now chipped near the top.

He barely even made so much as eye contact with Huntress before he surged forwards via the last of his strength, grabbed Huntress, and fired a grapple at a nearby building. The two swung away just as the timer on the bomb reached it's last few seconds, and scrambled to the top of the building just in time to see the partially constructed tower go up in smoke.

A massive fiery explosion tore through the partially built building, shredding through steel, concrete, and most everything else caught in the towering flames that rose nearly as high as the building itself, small sparks rising and falling in all directions.

Looking down and seeing that the people in the building had long since cleared out before the explosion hit, Huntress breathed a sigh of relief. That the Joker had still been in the building when the bomb went off gave Huntress hope that he'd finally been sent on his long over-due trip to the Inferno, but the Clown Prince of Crime had cheated death before, so Huntress knew she couldn't get her hopes up _too_ high.

"Betcha he survived." Jason said weakly, apparently having caught on to what Huntress was thinking. She turned back around to face him, and could see that he was now slumped up against the wall.

"We'll see." Huntress replied. "I for one am hoping this is the last time we see him, at least in this life."

"Yeah, well I'd say you're gonna be disappointed." Jason shook his head. "Should have finished him. Should have made sure he was dead. If no one else, _he_ absolutely deserves to die…" he trailed off for a moment before adding in a softer and less angry tone: "Thanks by the way. For saving me, I mean."

"You're welcome. How are you holding up?"

"Well, I feel like shit, but it's still a hell of a lot better than the last time. I'm not dead for starters."

"We'll get you back to my place. I can patch you up there and…"

"No."

The distinctive dark, deep voice prompted Huntress to whip around, and as she turned she saw him standing there, black scalloped cape billowing in the wind as always. Huntress shook her head. She should have known he'd show up eventually.

Batman approached the duo and continued: "We can take him to the Batcave. Alfred can take care of him there."

"And let you turn him over to the police?" Huntress tightened her staff. "The hell with that."

"I'm not going to turn him in." Batman said, raising up a hand. "I want to help him."

"Why should I believe you?" Jason asked.

"You shouldn't, though look at it like this: if I _really_ wanted to turn you in, I'd have done it already. You're not in any kind of position to run or defend yourself right now." When Jason said nothing in response to this, Batman moved a little closer. Huntress' body stiffened and her posture became more aggressive, but ultimately she found herself stepping to the side to let Batman walk past her.

"Jason, please. Let me help. Just this once."

Jason looked up at his former mentor, seeing that he had a hand outstretched for him to take. Most likely had it been a year ago when he'd first come back to Gotham, Jason would have swatted the hand away, or else tried to stab it purely out of spite. But now, after everything he'd been through with Huntress and the demons inside himself that he'd been forced to confront head-on, Jason decided to take the hand after all.

"One time." he stressed.

Batman nodded. "I know, Jason. This doesn't change anything between us in the end. The next time we meet..."

"You won't hesitate, I know." Jason said, rolling his eyes. Changing topics, he asked: "So how is Alfred been doing these days?" His tone noticeably became more polite and civil as he asked this. Dare a watching Huntress say it, even conversational. As though he was speaking to an old friend instead of the mentor he'd grown to oppose.

"The same as always." Batman noted bluntly. "Now come on, we should get you to the Batcave as soon as possible."

As Batman picked Jason up and helped him along, Huntress followed, as she did saying: "Thanks, Bats."

"Don't thank me." He said. "This is a one-time favor. I decided to give you a second chance, Helena. But not Jason. I can't forgive the deaths."

"You forgave mine."

"Not the same." Batman replied, unfazed. "He's got ten times your bodycount at least. I can't overlook that."

Huntress nodded solemnly. Clearly the fact that by this point Jason hadn't killed a single criminal in two months meant nothing to Batman. Not when Jason had already killed too many beforehand. Huntress was disappointed, but not at all surprised.

Finally, they reached the Batmobile and Batman set Jason down in it. He closed the canopy of the car before turning to Huntress. "Before we go...I want to ask you something."

"What?"

"Do you love him?"

Doing her best to not be put off by Batman's forwardness (especially when she was hardly in a position to condemn someone for such a quality when she had it herself in abundance), Huntress inhaled deeply and said: "Yes. I do love him. Even with all he's done, which isn't that much worse than the things _I_ did." She gave a faint smile. "This is what us Catholics _do,_ Bruce; we forgive the sinful."

"Not this one." Batman replied coldly before shaking his head and saying: "Don't abandon him, Helena. Even if I _do_ bring him in and he goes to jail...don't ever abandon him. He needs someone. Someone who can give him what I can't. The things Jason needs and needed I could _never_ give him. _You_ can. So don't abandon him."

Huntress shook her head. "I won't, Bruce. No matter what happens, whether out here or with him in jail. I'll stand by him. Always. I promise."

Because they were the black sheep. And black sheep have to stick together.


End file.
